NIFS announced that it secured the legal grounds for using three types of seafoods including Meretrix petechialis, Macrourus whitsoni, and Saccharina sculpera by registering them on the list of food ingredients. 

The current Food Sanitation Act says that ingredients or materials, which can be utilized in manufacturing, processing, and cooking of food for sales, should be registered to the list. 

Hence NIFS had pursued the registration of unregistered seafoods to invigorate seafood industry and boost seafood consumption. 

Food ingredients refer to food raw materials – unprocessed food materials with proven edible basis, safety, and soundness – and are finally selected by consultative panel consisting of relevant organizations. 

Particularly, thanks to the registration at this time, the three seafoods can be productized for sales.

   * Meretrix petechialis - a kind of shellfish that people enjoy; Macrourus whitsoni - underutilized fish bycaught in distant water fisheries in Antacrtic Ocean; and Saccharina sculpera- sucessfully restored and possible to be cultured from endangered species 

To dispel the negative sense of Saccharina sculpera - ‘Gaedashima’ in Korean pronunciation - and foster it as a regional specialty product, NIFS developed the Brand Idnetity (BI) ‘Yongdashima’ - dragon kelp - and completed trademark registration. (Jan. 2020)